Packed in Twelve Cases: The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893—with exhibits and participants streaming in from across the globe and 25 million visitors marveling at its palaces, pavilions, and foreign villages—is understood as a formative moment in Chicago’s history. Less well documented, however, is the fair’s significance for Jews, notably those living half a world away in Paris, Tetouan, Jaffa, and Smyrna. Yet they too were present. Their exhibits of crafts, art, and student accomplishments were on display in the largest of the fair’s structures, the Manufactures and Liberal Arts building, thanks to an unprecedented global constellation of philanthropists, luminaries, teachers, and students.